December 13th, 2017 09:54 a.m.

Focus on tourism

We're glad to see Kershaw County and the City of Camden partnering to promote tourism by creating a new position whose sole focus will be promoting tourism and bringing more people to this area. In the past, the Chamber of Commerce has had to shoulder that load as well as its more traditional mission of working with small businesses and helping to attract new ventures to the county. Those roles -- business support and tourism -- have grown more and more specialized over the years, and it makes perfect sense to have someone whose only job will be to promote the city and county as a tourist destination.

Gene Wise, chairman of Kershaw County Council, also says the new position won't be the place for on-the-job training; instead, an experienced tourism person will be brought in to develop the potential we have here. In announcing it, Wise referred to several different agencies which will benefit from an influx of visitors, including Historic Camden, the Fine Arts Center, the equine industry, shooting ranges, the Motorsports Park near Kershaw and other segments.

Camden Mayor Jeffrey Graham says the city is onboard with the project and looking forward to developing tourism further. Obviously, when people come here and spend dollars without requiring infrastructure and other expenditures to support them, it's the best of all possible worlds. We hope this new effort will boost tourism to a new height here.